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Why a Unified K-12 Talent Management System is Necessary for Student Success By Melva Cárdenas, PowerSchool Strategic Education Advisor

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ContentsWhat is talent management? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Components of a K-12 talent management system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

How can a talent management system help improve student achievement? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Top challenges & how a talent management system can overcome them . . . . . . . . . 5

Benefits of a unified talent management system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Assessing your talent management needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Questions to consider as you assess your talent management needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Staying ahead with one unified platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Why PowerSchool Unified TalentTM? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

About Melva V. Cárdenas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

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What is talent management? What is now referred to as "talent management" has evolved over time.

1. Josh Bersin (2007). Talent Management Changes HR.

Dating back to the 1970s, the role of the "personnel department" was primarily to hire staff and provide compensation and benefits.

By the 1980s, the personnel department evolved to become "human resources" (HR), which grew to include recruiting, applicant tracking, hiring, and training. Additionally, HR designed and managed job roles within the organization as well as developed compensation packages partnering with, and supporting, the business function.

Most recently, HR has evolved to "talent management." While HR functions are a major focus, talent management integrates various HR "silos" to provide a "continuous and integrated process for recruiting, training, managing, supporting, and compensating staff."1

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According to Josh Bersin, President and Founder of Bersin & Associates, a leading industry research and advisory firm in enterprise learning and talent management, "Talent management may be defined as the implementation of integrated strategies or systems designed to improve processes for recruiting, developing, and retaining people with the required skills and aptitude to meet current and future organizational needs." 1

In K-12 education, the systems (or tools) that today’s talent management professionals use include software covering each important function of the job role. While each can function individually for a specific need, a unified "talent management system" can integrate together to share data and increase functionality.

Components of a K-12 talent management system include:

Recruitment • Job posting sites

• Job search engines

• Teacher success indicators

Integration with financial/compensation management

systems

Substitute tracking

Retention/Employee lifecycle

management • Onboarding • Employee records management including contracts

Applicant tracking system (ATS)

Retention • Performance management (evaluation)

• Professional development and learning

1. Josh Bersin (2007). Talent Management Changes HR.

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How can a talent management system help improve student achievement? An effective talent management system should include solutions for recruiting, applicant tracking, performance management, professional learning, and compensation. This type of unified system can work together to improve student achievement in the following ways:

Finding the right teachers for student success. A product that evaluates cognitive abilities, teaching skills, and attitudinal factors is essential to attract and retain

teachers and administrators who will have the greatest impact on student performance. By selecting the candidate most qualified and the right fit for the assignment, districts and schools can improve teacher retention and ensure students are continuously supported with effective instruction.

Improving teacher effectiveness. A comprehensive solution for performance management and professional learning is vital to developing successful teachers. It’s critical to provide

targeted and timely feedback based on a teacher’s performance to improve their effectiveness. It’s also key to analyze teacher performance data and to link the results directly to professional learning opportunities as well as student performance. Campus administrators must have access to performance data to diagnose areas of strength and need, and to inform relevant professional learning. Providing differentiated and individualized professional learning targets specific areas and makes the learning meaningful.

Giving teachers and administrators more time to focus on what’s important. By improving efficiency and effectiveness using talent management technology,

teachers and students benefit. Whether in the process of recruiting, selecting, evaluating, or developing your staff, a comprehensive talent management solution will give time back to busy administrators and teachers. Rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach, a tailored professional learning plan based on teacher and student performance data creates more effective and successful teachers. Not only is teacher time respected and trust established with greater transparency, but it creates a positive school culture where collaboration is fundamental, teacher time is respected, and transparency fosters trust is established.

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Top challenges and how a talent management system can address them With a continual emphasis on accountability, schools and districts face many challenges with limited resources. K-12 leaders, including HR and talent management leaders, are competing for top talent to improve student outcomes.

Many schools and districts are turning to technology to:

• Recruit a broad pool of potential candidates

• Identify and hire those who will impact student success the most

• Onboard their new hires as quickly and efficiently as possible

• Help them succeed by providing collaborative evaluation processes, ongoing feedback, and targeted professional learning in an effort to improve teacher retention

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Effectively managing talent can have many obstacles. The Center for American Progress (CAP) conducted a survey highlighting some of the challenges facing school districts, which include:2

• Recruiting strategy doesn’t align with targeted area of need. Districts often implement recruitment strategies that tend to focus on their local area or within their state. As a result, they may not be targeting specific content areas of need or may not be focusing on recruiting a diverse candidate pool.

• Lack of emphasis on multiple candidate review factors. When reviewing an applicant pool, emphasis is often on the written application, resume, and certification. Top candidates can be overlooked when performance-based tasks and/or behavior-based questions are not available for consideration.

• Incomplete, ineffective onboarding process. Once hired, too much focus on paperwork can negatively impact the onboarding process. Without an effective onboarding and mentoring program, teachers are not set up for success on the job.

• Insufficient professional development opportunities. In addition to the onboarding and mentoring of new hires, teachers may not have opportunities for—or access to—professional learning that supports their growth.

• Poor retention planning. The lack of strategic recruiting initiatives detracts from creating supportive environments that can improve retention.

2. Annette Konoske-Graf, Lisette Partelow, and Meg Benner (2016). To Attract Great Teachers, School Districts Must Improve Their Human Capital Systems.

In addition to the challenges cited in the CAP survey, other issues include:

District departments may be inundated with paper processes

Applicant pools are often limited, particularly for hard-to-fill positions with critical shortages

Lack of automated or online processes may discourage younger candidates from applying

Budget cuts and staff reductions are forcing districts to do more with less

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3. Talent Management’s ROI in K-12 Education (2016). Hobson & Company.

Benefits of a unified talent management system As schools and districts have shifted focus from personnel to HR to talent management, a unified system can help tackle changing needs. With a comprehensive, integrated system, vital processes are connected. K-12 leaders have the benefit of employee recruiting, onboarding, professional learning, performance, collaboration, and compensation combined in one, secure system.

An integrated system doesn’t just provide more features and functionality. It also takes those added elements and multiplies capabilities through improved efficiency, smooth workflows, and connected data. In the end, productivity is enhanced, allowing educators to get more done.

ROI Benefits of PowerSchool Unified Talent3

90% less time spent

creating and posting new job

positions

40%faster time-to-

fill rates

40%faster time-to-

fill rates

50%eduction in time

spent placing substitute teachers

50%reduction in time

spent placing substitute teachers

50%less time creating,

tracking, and managing contracts

50%less time creating,

tracking, and managing contracts

50% less time

spent managing onboarding

tasks

50% less time spent

managing onboarding

tasks

60%less time spent

completing lifecycle management

tasks

60%less time spent

completing lifecycle management

tasks

For a school or district of 2,700 students and 500 employees, typical cost savings can exceed $974,000 per year

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A unified talent management system can help you:

Find and retain quality teachers and other school staff with products that combine candidate assessment and applicant tracking capabilities so you can quickly find and hire great teachers.

Conduct meaningful, engaging teacher evaluations and supervision that can identify strengths and growth opportunities. This data, combined with student performance results, informs instruction as well as personalized professional learning paths, and in the end, impacts teacher retention and student achievement.

Improve efficiencies by eliminating paper-based processes for things like recruitment, onboarding, evaluations, absence management, and beyond. A unified HR workflow simplifies every process and task, giving you more time back to focus on impacting student success.

Centralize HR operations to increase visibility and ensure compliance in staff performance and personnel management. When you connect HR with payroll and finance products, you can improve decision-making and streamline administrative processes across the entire district.

A unified talent management system has similar functionality between and among solutions. It affords the opportunity to begin the onboarding process for new hires early, which will provide the employee with the tools and knowledge to be successful.

Having an electronic signature functionality adds to the efficiency and timeliness of completing tasks. Rather than using time-consuming manual processes for gathering data from multiple solutions, data can be gathered more efficiently using the reporting and analytics functions of a talent management system. Data can then be easily analyzed to make informed decisions on forecasting recruitment needs, assessing recruitment initiatives, teacher effectiveness, professional learning needs and offerings, and equity issues.

Data security, interoperability, reduction in paper-based processes, alignment of goals, and talent development are a few additional benefits of a unified talent management system.

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Assessing your talent management needs An applicant tracking system (ATS) provides job statuses and action items in one place that are readily available and easy to read.

When the ATS is compatible on any device, including mobile devices, candidates can apply for jobs at their convenience from wherever they are. Having efficient recruiting, application, and onboarding processes can reduce your turnover rate, improve retention, and lower the costs associated with turnover.

Retention is also improved when implementing a performance management system that offers transparency and opportunities for ongoing feedback, as well as a professional learning system that can be linked to performance management for targeted, personalized training.

Professional learning

By strategically and cost-effectively creating, managing,

and delivering personalized training to employees, you can improve employee engagement

and retention.

Onboarding

Recruiting and onboarding leads to greater retention of new hires, reducing

turnover and hiring costs.

Performance management

Managers can easily help their employees set objectives, assess employee progress, and provide coaching and feedback to help ensure employees are meeting

their goals.

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Questions to consider as you assess your talent management needs:

Recruiting

PAIN POINT: Are you struggling with hiring the right staff?

LOOK FOR: A product to help you scientifically look at candidates and prioritize them based on their likelihood to impact student success.

RECOMMENDATION: The assessment tool should assess the candidate’s teaching skills, cognitive abilities, and attitudinal factors, and provide a score for each as well as an overall score. Rather than sorting applications alphabetically, sort by score to move higher-qualified candidates to the top.

Onboarding

PAIN POINT: Is your onboarding process limited to paperwork and lacking efficient workflows?

LOOK FOR: A product that will allow you to involve all departments with a robust workflow that eliminates paper-based processes.

RECOMMENDATION: An effective onboarding process helps new hires acclimate to the new working environment including social, cultural, and performance aspects, as well as fill in necessary forms.

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Records Management

PAIN POINT: Are you inundated in paper (i.e. personnel files, I-9s, W-2s, contracts, etc.)?

LOOK FOR: A product that provides electronic personnel files and folders within the file to organize the various documents. The contracts feature should allow the employee to view, sign, and submit the contract electronically by logging into the individual’s account. The product should also provide a self-service feature for employees to access forms and to submit them electronically.

RECOMMENDATION: Filing the traditional, manual way, receiving requests for forms, and sending the forms can be time- and labor-intensive. Save time by creating workflows that route the document to the person who needs it and then route it directly to the electronic personnel file folder.

Performance Management

PAIN POINT: Do your campus administrators find it challenging to get quantifiable insights into factors that impact student outcomes, which in turn can inform instruction and professional development plans?

LOOK FOR: A product that delivers reports and analytics supporting state and local educator effectiveness priorities. It should also be integrated with a professional learning tool to recommend and/or require targeted professional learning opportunities, making it easy to understand and improve instructional quality.

RECOMMENDATION: Implementing a quality performance management system will improve and strengthen performance management processes by supporting rubric-based effectiveness models, focusing on transparency and accountability, capturing multiple measures of evidence (i.e. observations, ad-hoc walk throughs, peer reviews, self-assessments, student achievement data), providing a mechanism for ongoing feedback, and connecting to professional learning.

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Professional Learning

PAIN POINT: Is your school or district struggling to provide personalized, targeted professional learning opportunities linked to the teacher’s evaluation results and students’ performance?

LOOK FOR: A product that naturally integrates with a performance management system, enabling schools and districts to connect strengths and weaknesses identified in the evaluation process with targeted professional learning.

RECOMMENDATION: A professional learning system that is accessible anytime, anywhere helps teachers choose courses and opportunities aligned with their learning goals and their evaluation results to impact student success. A quality professional learning system simplifies educator development by bringing together growth plans, coursework, and resources into a single system.

Absence Management

PAIN POINT: Are you having difficulty managing and assigning substitutes who are the most qualified and the best-fit for the assignment, as well as identifying their availability?

LOOK FOR: An absence management system that completes automated calling based on unique needs, such as the substitute’s qualifications and/or preferences, the teacher’s preferences, and/or the nature of the vacancy. Also look for strong reporting functions to gain visibility into absence trends.

RECOMMENDATION: Don’t waste time calling substitutes who are not available. By filling the vacancy quickly and efficiently with the most qualified candidate available, instruction is not interrupted and students can progress on their learning path. A system that is easy to use for the substitute, the teacher, and the principal will decrease the amount of time it takes to fill an absence.

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Staying ahead with one unified solution Talent management has evolved over the years.

To stay ahead, and ultimately drive student success, it’s essential to invest in a unified talent management system to efficiently manage the many roles, tasks, and areas of responsibility that go far beyond simply hiring staff and providing compensation and benefits.

A unified system provides a platform that integrates processes—leading to improved instruction, teacher retention, and student achievement. Here’s what a unified system helps with:

• Recruiting teachers who are most likely to have the greatest impact on student success

• Effective and efficient onboarding that provides the employee with information and support needed to succeed on the job

• Evaluating performance and providing tools for timely feedback and collaboration

• Developing teachers and improving instruction through targeted professional learning using data analytics from the teacher’s evaluation results

• Data analysis across solutions allows administrators to improve instruction

These processes, and the exchange of data, can be implemented with confidence when you have a safe, secure talent management system.

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Why PowerSchool Unified TalentTM? K-12 HR leaders face the constant challenge of finding, hiring, and supporting quality teachers and staff to positively impact student achievement. To get there, unified edtech tools that work together—and are easy to implement—enhance school and district success.

With 30+ years of edtech leadership, PowerSchool is the single, trusted K-12 HR partner for:

HR management tools for every phase of employment, from hire to retire

Enabling tailored professional learning guided by student performance insights

World-class support and services for smooth implementations and ongoing partnership

A flexible, configurable solution for specific school or district needs

TM

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Using the combination of Unified Talent products they need, schools and districts can build a customized solution to transform talent management into a data-driven function, ultimately fueling student achievement.

Find and retain high-quality educators with the nation’s most popular K-12 job posting site, research-based candidate assessments, and an easy-to-use applicant tracking system.

Boost educator effectiveness by identifying teacher strengths and opportunities for growth to provide meaningful, actionable feedback. Provide personalized professional learning informed by powerful student performance data from PowerSchool Performance Matters Assessment and Analytics products to support educator growth and teacher retention.

Get time back to focus on what really matters by drastically increasing HR efficiency. Move paper-based processes online for recruiting, onboarding, evaluations, absence management, and more. Embrace streamlined, digital HR workflows so staff can focus on impacting student success.

Increase transparency into staff operations and ensure compliance in staff performance and personnel management by centralizing HR operations with a unified solution that brings it all together. Easily connect PowerSchool finance and payroll products to improve decision-making and eliminate redundancies at the school or district office.

Build a positive school culture through systems that promote evaluation, feedback, and growth. Let collaboration flourish, help parent-teacher relationships thrive, and see teacher development directly impact student outcomes.

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Melva V. CárdenasA 33-year veteran educator and HR leader, Melva Cárdenas held roles as a teacher, principal, and HR executive director in Midland and Round Rock Independent School Districts, both in Texas. She currently serves as a field supervisor for an educator certification program and a strategic education advisor at PowerSchool.

Since retiring from the public schools in 2008, she served as director of educator certification at the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and executive director for the Texas Association of School Personnel Administrators (TASPA).

Melva earned a Bachelor of Science in elementary education and a Master of Education in school administration from Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas. She holds Texas educator certificates in elementary grades 1-8 with Bilingual and English as a Second Language endorsement and mid-management administrator. She is a certified T-TESS appraiser and trainer.

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www.PowerSchool.com

At PowerSchool, we believe in the simple truth that every student deserves the best opportunities in life. That’s why our mission is to power the education ecosystem with unified technology that helps educators and students realize their potential, in their way. From the office to the classroom to the home, PowerSchool helps schools and districts efficiently manage instruction, learning, grading, attendance, assessment, analytics, state reporting, special education, student registration, talent, finance, and HR. Today, we’re proud to be the leading provider of K-12 education application technology supporting over 45 million students in over 70 countries.